System Notification:Level Up
Class Unlocked:Demon Lord
For an eternal moment, time seemed to stand still, and I broke my meditation.
Everything seemed peaceful, and I felt…normal.
Like nothing had changed.
Well, I was right. Nothing had changed yet. No, I had only begun the first part of becoming a Demon Lord.
A light trace of wind broke the feeling of timelessness that I had felt, stirring the leaves in the wooded mountain terrain slightly.
That seemed to be the trigger, as the wind began to pick up speed, faster and faster still, and within moments, it was whipping my hair about, and I struggled to stand on solid ground. And, soon, I had no solid ground to stand upon, as a cocoon of wind had encased me within its embrace, lightly lifting me off the ground. I hung in midair, suspended in this transparent barrier.
The warbling shriek of the high-speed winds cut out all other sounds, though I would have to be blind to not notice what was happening above me. The wind seemed to be gathering, tunneling into one place, far over my position. A storm was brewing, and I seemed to be the cause, and epicenter of it.
The clouds grew thicker and darker, until they seemed to be a solid mass of seething darkness spinning in the air, slowly changing into something that I remembered. It was a natural phenomena normally, just the product of warm and cold air fronts colliding, and forming a spinning funnel of high-speed winds and devastating rain.
Whatever was above me now, was similar, but surely not natural.
The dark and malevolent clouds reached down for me, still entombed within the sphere of wind.
Closer they came, unstoppable while their approach continued on.
Knowing that I had no way to dodge them, since the wind barrier proved to be impenetrable with my current magic, I could do nothing but brace myself as they hit—passing straight through the clear winds buffeting me off the ground, and striking me directly.
Cold. The dark clouds felt ice cold as they passed through my skin as well, entering my body.
Immediately spreading, occupying the entire span of the mana channels within me, and my mana pool, the wind seemed to stretch them to the limit.
I felt like I would break, my body shattering from the inside out as the cold dark clouds froze me and my soul clean to the core. My thoughts ran through my head at the moment, trying to figure out what was happening, find a solution, and hang on for all I’ve got.
It was the last one that did me the most good, as my stubbornness exceeded the punishment given by these first dark clouds, and the pain subsided somewhat. At least, until the rest of the twister spinning about wildly above me started descending, gradually forcing more and more of the chill into my body, as I was able to handle more. It was like my body was adapting itself to the clouds, the mana channels growing in width and durability, and my mana pool growing and growing without limits.
I seemed to come close to losing the struggle of holding myself together many times, always teetering on the edge of disaster, and presumably death.
And the clouds seemed to go on forever, more and more cold despair entering my body, my bones, my veins.
Then, it was done, much later.
The last of the cloud entered me, and it was gone. The chill dispersed through the my entire body, and I slumped down to the ground, covered in sweat and tears. I no longer had the energy to move, and simply lay there, powerless.
I sucked in deep breaths, and the mountain air that had seemed cold before was now blissfully warm and inviting.
I laughed weakly. Of course, there is no strength without equal adversity.
After some time, I propped myself up by my hands, and sighed painfully. I was happy that it was over with…
Wait. The clouds are still there.
It had only been the twister that had disappeared.
Just as I thought that, a low rumbling overtook the ground, and it began to buckle chaotically. I looked up at the dark clouds hanging above me, and saw as traceries of blinding blue light arced through them, seemingly gathering at one point.
Oh shi…
—Boom—!
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I saw lightning.
It arced all over the place, the violet bolts setting fire to wooded cottages nearby, and people ran about briefly, before falling to the lightning.
Someone stood in the center of the lighting.
Their figure was indistinct, but somehow sorrowful.
Then, the world warped, and instead of that forgotten scene of destruction, I saw scales. A small dragon, only about five feet long, lay on top of a crude altar.
Its inky black scales were dripping an equally dark liquid, as it struggled feebly against a massive lance piercing its midsection, and pinning it to the stone table.
There were men around the dragon, gleefully taking gilded cups, and using the streams of blood as their fount.
Once again, the world shuttered, and I found myself in a different place.
This time, I felt powerlessness as my hands were chained up above me head.
And, then I felt pain as a fat, middle-aged man took carefully sharpened knives and carved away my flesh, taking care to prolong my agony.
Again and again and again, I flipped through various scenes, my mind blank and pained.
I saw so many things I wanted to forget, from my second life to the one that never should have existed.
Eventually, I relived a scene that re-awoke my mind.
I won’t say what it was, except for the fact that it was harrowing to the extreme.
After it, my mind came back awake with a roar, and the memories I’d been going through vanished, the real world once more appearing before me.
I blinked.
The sky was clear, and I felt good. And, not dead.
What had just happened?
Well, I think I was hit by a lighting bolt.
No, I was definably hit.
So why did I start recalling old memories? Even while I wasn’t injured.
No, seriously. There isn’t a single scratch on me.
I feel like this whole thing has more significance than I had originally thought.
I’ve heard that everybody reaching level one hundred changes, since there seems to be a qualitative difference between those at level ninety nine, and one hundred.
That’s definitely the case with me, given that I became a Demon Lord at level one hundred. I just hadn’t expected the transition to be like this, with the clouds and the lightning. When Jasper becomes a Demon Lord as well, maybe I’ll find out more about the process of turning into one, or even watch him go through it.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
I got up, brushing the dirt from my clothes, and noticed I was currently inside a large crater, still smoking from the lightning’s impact.
Interesting. I wonder if the lightning simply didn’t touch me.
Though, the memories I had suggested otherwise. It might have affected me in another way, non-physically.
I walked out of the crater, and marveled at my body now.
Simply put, I’ve gotten stronger again. Except, this time, it felt natural, like I am able to perfectly control it from the very beginning.
I felt normal, even while being stronger than before.
Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw that my horns had now turned completely black, and seemed sharper. I wasn’t any taller, judging by my height when compared to the trees around me, and I didn’t have the feeling that I had become denser, like last time.
I opened my status.
Status:Name: Katariah Nadine SilverTitles: (5 Hidden)Race: Demon/ElfAge: 13Gender: FemaleMain Class: Demon LordSub Class(es): Spell-Sword SaintLevel: 150Health: 9136Mana: 507200Strength: 1626Stamina: 1494Dexterity: 1728Intelligence: 2352Wisdom: 1872Luck: 1
Yeah, this time, my stats jumped by quite a bit.
And, strangely enough, my level as well.
I don’t know why. Maybe it had something to do with the dark clouds. After all, they didn’t feel, or act anything like a normal could would.
Well, now the question is, how fast can I get away from this place?
It looks like I was correct in my decision to do this away from the academy, since it had certainly gathered some attention, for a few reasons. I’ll talk about them later, if need be.
But, at the moment, I just wanted to get away from the epicenter of my transformation as soon as possible.
So, I started speeding away from the crater left from the lightning, putting as much distance between us as I could.
As it was, I needn’t have bothered.
I was found only a few minute later, by a familiar face.
Actually, no. Never mind. Since he didn’t have a face and all the first time I met him.
The space off to my side had warped; it’s surroundings being distorted as light was bent due to the teleportation.
A figure stepped out of the distorted space, and immediately locked eyes with me.
“Never would I have expected that two of the siblings would become Demon Lords at the same time.” (Lich Toledo)
I froze for a moment. Didn’t the dead guy just say something really important? No, there were several important things he just mentioned, casually as all hell.
“You mean Jasper just became a Demon Lord?” (Kai)
“Yes. Though, his process was much shorter than yours, I would guess.” (Toledo)
I thought for a moment.
Yeah.
No way am I letting Jasper know that I’ve also become a Demon Lord.
I shook my head ruefully.
“You mentioned something about siblings? Does that mean that Jasper and I have other relatives?” (Kai)
“I am sorry. That answer is not mine to give, though I would be willing to assist you with some other matters.” (Toledo)
“I don’t suppose you could help me with this one thing, then? You see, the rest of my old sword—Would it be possible…” (Kai)
He held up a hand, forestalling my question.
“No. You would have to venture into my labyrinth on your own, and retrieve it. For, it is still down there, and I have lost control of my old domain, due to the seal being broken.” (Toledo)
I clicked my tongue, annoyed at this new turn of events. Well, at least this tells me that I likely have other family, besides Jasper and my ever-absent father.
And, it looks like I would have to wait upon the complete reforging of Twilight until I become strong enough to venture to the bottom of the labyrinth. While it is true that I’ve gotten quite a bit stronger now, I’m still nowhere near strong enough to do that. Even Niten was all but forced to give up, as soon as the tenth floor.
I just need more time, before being able to challenge it.
As soon as Toledo left, teleporting out in the same way he had arrived, by the use of a powerful spell I can’t even begin to understand, I continued running from where I had turned into a Demon Lord.
Speaking of which, I pulled up the information pertaining to the class, and came across some surprising information.
Demon Lord:This individual has stepped upon the path of Demonic Power. This is a path as wide and deep as the heavens above, and as narrow and high as the hells below. Take care to not fall.Demon Lord’s Aura (Weak) has been replaced with Demon Lord’s Aura (Normal)
Skill:〖Demonic Transformation〗
has evolved into Skill:〖Demon Lord’s Transformation〗
Huh. I’ll have to check that out later. For now, I’m just going to make my way back to the academy as quickly as I can.
Luckily, any of the pursuit I might have had, was preoccupied with chasing the new Demon Lord Jasper. Otherwise, I would have had a much harder time getting back to the academy without anyone finding out about it.
As it was, at the moment, they were all shitting their pants, having found out that not one Demon Lord had ascended, but two had, and they had no idea about who the second one might be, other than the fact that the new one was somewhat more powerful than the first.
But, I had no way of knowing this at the time, and would only find out about it during the summit in a month.
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Author's Note:
Sorry it's late—When my family goes on vacation, there's rarely time to breathe between everything else we do.
While I enjoy this and everything, it doesn't leave a whole lot of time for writing.
Anyway, to the Americans, happy fourth and all that.
To everyone else, hope this eased the brutal cliff I had left last chapter.
Even I felt a little bad putting that in there.
Sorry.
—River.
(P.s— I'm not really sorry. I took great joy in it. The comments made it worthwhile.)